1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to concrete finishing apparatuses and more specifically to a concrete riding trowel and abrading mechanisms therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Owners of facilities having large concrete floors want the floors to be flat, smooth and glossy. Defects or imperfections in a concrete floor surface are unacceptable to most business proprietors and therefore must be removed. Traditional methods used today to improve a concrete surface typically involve epoxy coating of the fully cured concrete surface, and buffing the concrete surface. Buffing techniques involve very little removal of concrete from the surface of fully cured concrete and therefore imperfections may remain. Grinding of the surface has been employed, however, current practices do not adequately removing certain defects, such as a shoe imprints in the concrete surface, do not produce as flat a surface as the owner may want, cannot be made as flat as desired due to exposing aggregate and take too much time, which is almost always a negative from the owner's viewpoint. Currently concrete finishers use multiple small disks affixed to each of the blades at the base of a troweling machine; the machine applying power causing the blades to rotate such that the abrasive surface of the disks is in contact with the concrete surface. The weight of the machine acting directly upon the grinding disks is used for the application of the downward force acting on the disks. However, even this prior practice does not achieve the desired smooth glossy finish. Application of a water-based surface hardener chemical, such as Diamond Hard marketed by Euclid Chemical Company, followed by polishing with a polishing machine, such as a Tenant polishing machine, has been employed on poured concrete surfaces after the concrete has been allowed to fully cure for 28 days. This last mentioned procedure does produce a somewhat shiny surface but not the degree of gloss desired by the owners of the facilities and it does not remove surface defects or blemishes such as battery acid spills, oil and the like or surface irregularities such as foot prints which may have been pressed into the surface before the concrete had completely cured, and which, if not removed, will adversely affect the surface appearance even though polished.